USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 10
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taken a great interest in educational matters, and is one of the trustees and executive committee in charge of the Moses Brown School in Providence, where he prepared for college.
Mr. Collins was married in 1890 to Miss Sarah D. Sheldon. daughter of the late Seth L. and Phebe A. Sheldon. They have three sons : Sheldon C., Forn in 1891: Theodore A., born in 1805; and Frederick S., born in 1898.
FRED S. PEARSON.
In a list of Berkshire county's civil engineers the name of Fred S. Pearson, of Great Barrington, would stand very high. Mr. Pear- son belongs to a family of English origin which was founded in America by an ancestor who emigrated in 1632 to the colonies and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. A century and a half later the family was represented ir the patriot army of the Revolution.
Ambrose Pearson was a civil engineer and a pioneer in the art of railroad building. He was employed in the construction of many of the first roads of the country, among which were the Illinois Central. Boston & Maine, and Central Vermont. He married Hannah Edgerly of Manchester, New Hampshire, and they were the parents of four children, three of whom are now living, among them a son, Fred S., mentioned at length hereinafter. Mr. Pearson died in 1876. His memory is perpetuated by his works, which remain as monuments of his professional skill. He is survived by his widow.
Fred S. Pearson, son of Andrew and Hannah ( Edgerly) Pearson, was born July 3. 1861. in Lowell. Massachusetts, and in 1883 grad- uated at Tufts College. He was for a time instructor in chemistry in the Institute of Technology of Boston, and also filled the chair of
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mathematics in Tufts College. Choosing for his life work the field of endeavor in which his father had won distinction, he devoted himself with enthusiasm to engineering. Acting as chief engineer, he had charge of the electrical equipment of the West End street railroad in Boston, and designed and constructed the underground conduit system for the electrical operation of the Metropolitan street railway of New York. He has been employed as consulting engineer on many other street railroads, both in this country as well as in Europe and South America. For several years he has devoted his attention to the develop- ment of water powers in this country and abroad, and is now consulting engineer for the Ontario Development Company of Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he is constructing one of the large hydraulic powers at this point. He is also vice president of the Mexican Light and Power Company of Mexico, and the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light and Power Company of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which two companies are engaged in the development of large water powers and the transmis- sion of the power by electricity to the centers of consumption. Three years ago he became a resident of Great Barrington, where he has since built for himself a delightful home. He is a member of the University and Engineers' Club of New York, and of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also of the similar societies for mechanical, electrical and mining engineers, and is also a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers of Great Britain.
Mr. Pearson married in 1887, Mabel Ward, of Lowell. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson are the parents of three children: Ward, Natalie and Frederick.
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FRED TOWER FRANCIS.
A well known figure in social, political, business, musical and fra- ternal circles of Pittsfield, and a member of the historic Francis family of Western Massachusetts, is he whose name introduces this sketch.
Fred Tower Francis was born in Pittsfield, November 21, 1869, third son of the late James Dwight Francis. (See Francis family.) He attended the public and high schools of Pittsfield, leaving the latter in 1886 to accept the position of clerk of Berkshire County Savings Bank, an office theretofore held by his brother, George D. Francis, and vacated by the latter's decease. This position Mr. Fred T. Francis has continuously held and still occupies.
He has been an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party since attaining his majority: has been delegate to numerous conven- tions, served upon the city committee, represented Ward four efficiently in Pittsfield's council in 19co and 1901, and has been since 1904 one of the especially diligent, aggressive and intelligent members of Pitts- field's board of health.
His interest in matters musical, the natural outgrowth of the pos- session of a well cultivated bass voice, has extended to an interest and association with all progressive steps of whatever character that have been taken along musical lines in the city of his nativity during the past fifteen years. Within that entire period he has had constant associa- tion with one or other of the church choirs ; was one of the original mem- bers of that well known local musical organization, the Crescent Male Quartette, and a most active member and treasurer of the Berkshire Musical Association, and president of the Pittsfield Musical Chub.
Another especial interest of Mr. Francis is Pittsfield's fire depart- ment, of which he has been a member since December 3, 1889. He is a
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member also of the Park and Country Clubs of Pittsfield, and secretary of the former. He is a member of Crescent Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; and its treasurer since November, 1891 ; of Berkshire Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Berkshire Council, Royal and Select Masters; and Berkshire Commandery, Knights Templar.
Mr. Francis married, October 17, 1901, Maude Allison Thompson, daughter of the late William O. Thompson, of St. John, New Bruns- wick, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Francis have a son, Frederick Tower Francis, born April 2, 1905.
WILLIAM DERBYSHIRE CURTIS.
A most important factor in the splendid development of the town of Lenox, Massachusetts, has been the excellence of its hotel service, a feature which has its especial exponent in the Curtis Hotel, which was founded in 1853 by the late William O. Curtis, father of William D. Curtis, upon the site of that tavern of historic memories, the Berkshire Coffee House. The Curtis family was one of the pioneers of Berk- shire county, being among the early settlers of Stockbridge, and after it was named the village of Curtisville.
The founder of the American family of Curtis was Henry Curtis, born in 1621, died November 30, 1661. He was married May 13. 1645. to Elizabeth Abell. He had land granted to him in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1645, and probably lived there until 1655. when the town voted to buy the property for a currier's use, if it was for sale. His name is in a list of householders paying for seats in church in January, 1660, in Windsor, and in a list made in 1677. of " the number of children born in Windsor from the beginning." is included " Henry Curtice, 2." Savage says that he removed to Northampton. It is a
William A. Curti
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tradition that he was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England, and related to William and John Curtis, who settled in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639. His widow Elizabeth, on June 22, 1662, became the wife of Richard Weller, who was of Windsor, Connecticut, 1640; of Farring- ton, Connecticut, 1659; Northampton, Massachusetts, 1662, and Deer- field, Massachusetts, 1673. He died about 1690.
Henry Curtis had two children, the second was Nathaniel Curtis, born in Windsor, Connecticut, July 15, 1651 ; he married Prudence -- , and their son was Samuel Curtis, born in 1683, married, in 1710, Lois Wentworth, and their son was Elnathan Curtis, born in Windsor, Connecticut, April 10, 1712, died in Stockbridge, Massa- chusetts, August 20, 1780. He married, March 10, 1737, Rose Weller, born in Guilford, Connecticut, in April. 1714, died June 1, 1808, a daughter of Thomas Weller. Elnathan Curtis and his wife were ad- mitted to the Congregational church in Stockbridge, June 5, 1763. by letter from New Preston, Connecticut. According to the " History of New Milford. Connecticut," they had nine children. The third child was
Abel Curtis, born in Woodbury, Connecticut, February 17, 1740, died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, July 29, 1829. He was married at West Stockbridge, September 18, 1767, to Sarah Neale, born Janu- ary 17, 1749, died April 5. 1831, daughter of Samuel and Ruth Neale, of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Abel Curtis served in the war of the Revolution. He and his wife resided in Stockbridge, Massa- chusetts, and there were born to them a family of eight sons and five daughters. Their eighth child was
Ocran Curtis, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, April 20, 1780. (lied December 12, 1849. He was married May 28, 1806, to Lucy Dres- ser, born in Charlton, Massachusetts, in 1787, died April 13, 1857, a daughter of James and Irene Dresser. Ocran Curtis was a merchant in
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Stockbridge, and was eminently successful in his undertakings. He was the father of ten children, among whom was
William Otis Curtis, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, July 15, 1817, died February 20, 1895, aged seventy-seven years. He married, November 5. 1842, Jane Evaline Derbyshire, daughter of William and Laura (Trowbridge) Derbyshire. William O. Curtis came to Lenox. Massachusetts, in 1833, when sixteen years of age, and after establishing and operating for twenty years a stage line from Lee to Pittsfield, con- necting with the Western (now Boston & Albany) railroad, became the proprietor of the hotel which has become so widely known under his management and that of his son, and has entertained many, famous men and women. From the date of its establishment the Curtis Hotel found favor with the traveling public, and has always ranked as a leader among the best and most select of the summer hotels of the Berkshire Hill country. Its management has been characterized by the immediate adoption of any improvement and the addition of every appliance that would conduce to the comfort of their guests, and it is in strictest conformity with the facts that the magnificent improve- ments which have given to Lenox a world-wide fame is in no small measure due to the excellent care taken of the present summer residents of Lenox while they were simply summer visitors and guests of Curtis Hotel. Mr. Curtis also manifested a keen interest in the public af- fairs of Lenox, having served efficiently as selectman, deputy sheriff and otherwise as an official, and also represented his district in the general court of 1853. He left two sons, one of whom was William D. Curtis. born at Lenox, December 21. 1843.
William D. Curtis, the present proprietor of the hotel, who has contributed materially in making Lenox well known throughout the country as one of the great summer resorts, is descended through his
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grandmother, Lucy Dresser, from John Dresser, who settled in Row- ley. Massachusetts, in 1638, and from William and Joanna ( Blessing) Towne, who came from Yarmouth, England, and settled in Salem. Their first child had the distinction of being hanged as a witch July 19, 1692. He is also descended, through Lucy Dresser, from Francis and Mary (Foster ) Peabody, who came to America in the ship " Planter " in 1635. Francis Peabody was born in St. Albans, Hert- fordshire, England, 1614. son of John Peabody, born in 1590, and wife Isabell. Another ancestor was Thomas Browning, whose daughter Mary, born January 7, 1638, married Edmund Towne, born in Yar- mouth. England, 1628, son of the first William Towne. William D. Curtis's maternal grandmother was Laura, daughter of Joseph Trow- bridge, of New Haven, Connecticut.
William D. Curtis attended Lenox Academy, and Williston Semi- nary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and by his studious habits and close application to study acquired an excellent English education. He then became associated with his father in the management of the hotel in terests, of which he has had the entire charge since the decease of the latter in February, 1895. He has been one of the prime movers in every phase of the development of Lenox; has served in the capacity of selectman, assessor, town treasurer, and clerk, and in 1875 repre- sented his town in the state assembly. He was one of the incorporators of the National and Savings Banks and president of the latter: presi- dent of the Electric Light and Power Company; treasurer of the Water Company: director of the Berkshire Mutual Insurance Company of Pittsfield. In all of these diverse and important positions he demon- strated his business foresight and sagacity. He has been active also as a member of the Congregational church, and served as treasurer of the society for more than a quarter of a century.
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Mr. Curtis was married twice. His first wife, Sylvina ( Phelps) Curtis, a native of Lenox, Massachusetts, bore him two children, Otis P. and Lura P. Curtis. His second wife was Sarah Butler Smith, of Coronado, California, daughter of Rev. Eli Smith, a Presbyterian mis- sionary, whose life work was at Beirut, Syria, where Mrs. Sarah (Smith) Curtis was born.
SAMUEL BRIDGES.
Samuel Bridges, born June 29, 1850, is a son of the late James Augustus and Jane Matilda (Hibbard) Bridges, the former a native of Williamstown, Massachusetts, the latter of Schodack, New York. James A. Bridges was a son of Samuel Bridges, who was one of the prominent and well-to-do early farmers of Williamstown. His son James established a livery business at Williamstown, and for some years operated a stage route between Williamstown and North Adams. In 1862 he removed his business and family to Pittsfield, where he re- mained until his decease, May 20, 1872. His widow survives and re- sides in Pittsfield. Of eleven children born of this union there are liv- ing: Martha J., wife of Frank Wadham, of San Diego, California ; Samuel, the immediate subject of this sketch; James Franklin Bridges, of Jersey City, New Jersey; Harriet, wife of James H. Kelly, of Phila- delphia ; Edward; Fannie. wife of Nelson J. Lawton, of Pittsfield; and Harry Bridges.
Samuel Bridges attended the public schools of Williamstown and Pittsfield, and was early initiated into the details of the livery business, and was fully equal to the assumption of its management upon the decease of his father. For four years thereafter he conducted it for his mother, and in 1875 purchased the business which he still conducts.
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Sam Bulles
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The Bridges, father and son, had a like experience in having their busi- ness premises totally destroyed by fire, the former in the early '6os, the latter in 1891, and it is a significant fact that in both instances larger structures supplanted the original stables. Samuel Bridges represented Ward two in Pittsfield's board of aldermen in 1892, his only political office.
He married. November 3, 1875, Helen, daughter of Richard and Marcia (Gallup) Vandenburgh, and has two children: Bessie, wife of Wallace Roberts, of New York: and Ralph A. Bridges, in the employ of his father. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have a daughter, Helen.
FRANK WARNER BRANDOW.
Without a peer in his profession, and standing alone in the won- derful versatility of his mechanical genius, the gentleman whose name introduces these memoirs is one of the most interesting personalities in the Berkshire Hill country. There is the added charm to the story of his professional life that he was absolutely unaided save through the exercise of native ability and persistent application in his attainment of the high position which he occupies while yet a comparatively young man. Heredity is doubtless responsible for his most valuable characteristics- unfaltering devotion to and indomitable will in the accomplishment of a desired end. The patience, ingenuity of method and unremitting toil through centuries with which his Hollandese forbears have repulsed the encroachments of Zuyder Zee upon the beloved soil of Fatherland, are unmistakably evidenced in both the profession and pastimes of Dr. Brandow, for, be it understood, he has found his highest enjoyment- his rest (?) from professional labors-in practically mastering all trades, as will appear from the narrative which follows.
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The founder of the American family of Brandow was one of the early Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam, and, of his descendants, Jacob Brandow, great-grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketchi, was, prior to and during the Revolutionary war, the owner of a large tract of land with a frontage of six miles upon the Hudson river be- tween Athens and Catskill. He was a boat builder, and established and successfully operated for some years a line of freight-carrying sailing vessels between Albany and New York City. A part of the tract of land above mentioned is still held by direct descendants of its original owner, five generations of Brandows having resided there.
Josiah Warner Brandow, the father of Dr. Frank W. Brandow. was a native of the homestead tract in the state of New York, and for many years a highly esteemed citizen of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He. too, was a mechanical genius, and whatever he undertook he accom- plished with a thoroughness that evidenced his belief that "whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well," a truism which he took early occasion to instill as a guiding precept for his son. He conducted for some years a sporting goods store on North street, on the site of the present Central Block, and had a gunsmith repair shop in connection therewith. In his earliest years in Berkshire county he was for fifteen years in charge of repair work for the Boston & Albany railroad, with headquarters at Pittsfield. He married Mary Ann May, daughter of Hezekiah, a farmer of West Pittsfield.
Frank Warner Brandow was born March 24, 1853. in Pittsfield, where he received his preliminary schooling and took up the study of dentistry under Dr. James Gamwell. His dental studies were con- tinued and completed under the preceptorship of that very distinguished member of the profession, Dr. W. W. Walker, of New York City. When twenty-one years of age he established offices at Pittsfield, and
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there speedily demonstrated his ability as a dental practitioner, taking rank with the leaders of his profession and acquiring a more than or- dinarily lucrative practice. The labor and confinement incident to this have made inroads upon Dr. Brandow's health, and he has been compelled in some measure to relax his professional efforts, his practice being principally confined to summer residents of Lenox, where he early at- tained and for many years has had an extensive patronage.
From boyhood his interest in mechanics has been keen, and that realm, broad as it is, seems to be able to hold no secrets from his in- quisitive and intelligent scrutiny. His initial effort in model making on a broad scale was brought about during a trip abroad in 1895, when, in company with Mr. I. C. Swazey, superintendent of the British Model Works, London, he was examining the wooden models of marine crafts at the works named. Upon this occasion Dr. Brandow ventured the suggestion that the models would be much handsomer if constructed of metals. This was pronounced by the superintendent as impracticable, an assertion that was challenged by Dr. Brandow. During his leisure moments of the following year Dr. Brandow demonstrated the correct- ness of his own position on the question by himself reproducing in metals a perfect model of the American line steamship " Paris." Con- cerning this wonderful and beautiful piece of miniature mechanism the New York Herald of April 26, 1896, comments as follows: " The model is an excellent finished piece of workmanship. Except the figure- head of the prow and the emerald and ruby jewels used for the steamer's lights, every detail from hull to rigging is made by hand. There are three thousand pieces in all. It is so riveted with bolts that the entire mechanism can be taken apart. The hull is of burnished copper, in many pieces, but brazed into perfect curves. The cordage of copper wire falls to the ship's sides from silver masts. The capstan stands on a
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bridge of brass, of which the deck and nearly all its furnishings are com- posed. All the minutiae of a complicated ocean liner (machinery, of course, excepted) are carved out with elaborate detail. The pilot ladder is gold, and the passenger ladder astern is aluminum. Her silken flags are set for entering an English port, a dainty Union Jack at the peak." This model was sold for one thousand dollars to John Hood, proprietor of the Tifft House, Buffalo, who subsequently disposed of it to Mr. R. H. White, of Boston, and it is now one of the highly prized treasures embodying both the arts and mechanics in the palatial home of the latter.
Within the next few years Dr. Brandow had constructed a perfect working model of the famous "999" locomotive of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, and shortly thereafter a model of the steamship " City of Berlin," of the American line. Shortly after the invention of the phonograph, and before that type of wonder was in the market, Dr. Brandow procured the use of an instrument from the Edison company and proceeded forthwith to the making of its counterpart. He has made also very beautiful models of the Winton pattern automobile -- the 1902 machine of wood, the 1903 machine of metals. The body of the latter is of silver plateen, and the running gear of oxidized silver. The machine was upholstered in black kid. Brass, copper, iron and steel were all used in its construction. It was on exhibition at Tiffany's, New York. for some time, where it received much admiring attention.
Dr. Brandow has numerous other models of his own construction, but nothing, however diminutive, that he has built to work, has failed to respond to the tests. An interesting recent model of the doctor's is that of the Santos Dumont airship, No. 6, with clock work to illustrate its propeller action.
Dr. Brandow is an enthusiastic automobilist, and, as may be imag-
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ined, is his own most capable chauffeur. A friend recently remarked that there was nothing in which the doctor took greater delight than in bowling smoothly along in his automobile, save having some accident happen to its mechanism, thereby giving free play to his mechanical genius. He was actively identified with the founding of the Berkshire Automobile Club, and president of that organization from its forma- tion up to 1905. Dr. Brandow has a wonderfully well equipped labora- tory at his home, fitted up with machinery and an electric motor for experimental work.
Dr. Brandow married. November 14, 1905, Louise, daughter of William and Bertha (Dietrich) Engel, of Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Brandow's residence is 59 Bartlett avenue. Mrs. Brandow is widely and most favorably known in Berkshire county as one of the especially talented graduates of the Henry W. Bishop Memorial Training School for Nurses.
EDWARD JAMES MALLEY.
That artists, of whatever type, are born and not made, is a gen- erally accepted and probably correct theory. The subject of this sketch, a Berkshire county boy, developed an early aptitude with crayon, pencil and brush, and early numbered among his most cherished possessions a camera. That he should have eventually developed into a photogra- pher of signal ability was the natural sequence of the boy's pronounced proclivities.
He was born May 30, 1876, son of the late Patrick A. and Eliza- beth A. (Moran) Malley, the former a native of the county Mayo, Ireland, born in 1815, and the latter of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. (laughter of the late Michael Mcran, who came from county Roscom- mon, Ireland, in the early '50s, and located in Stockbridge, where he
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was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Patrick Malley was also a farmer at Blue Hill. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, whence he removed to Lee in 1880.
Edward J. Malley was graduated from Lee Academy, then, taking up the study of electricity, as the outcome of which he was subsequently for a time night manager at Pittsfield of the New England Telephone Company.
His strong bent for work along artistic lines led him in 1896 to purchase Chapin's studio, at Lee, where he conducted a general photo- graphic business until 1901, when he came to Pittsfield to engage with E. S. Houck, then accounted the leading photographer of Berkshire county. In 1903 he purchased this business, and now has a well equipped studio in the England block, and a class and extent of patron- age that is an all sufficient attestation of his ability. A number of the most artistic of the portrait illustrations of this publication were en- graved from imprints of Mr. Malley's negatives.
WILLARD M. DELEVAN.
The stories which have been told by ballots have challenged human interest in recent years more than even the thrilling narratives that have volleyed from musketry or bellowed from the cannon's mouth. This is especially true in these United States, and it is upon the purity of the ballot rather than military and naval strength that our national safety depends. Ule who safeguards the republic in this direction therefore may justly be regarded as a public benefactor, a distinction which may be fairly accorded the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. His inventive genius has evolved a voting machine, the use of which insures an absolutely accurate, a speedy, and an unimpeachably honest
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